


Embrace Me

by Socchan



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fruits Basket, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blanket Permission, F/M, Fruits Basket inspired, Identity Reveal, Podfic Welcome, Present Tense, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 21:52:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18157499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Socchan/pseuds/Socchan
Summary: AU where Miraculous wielders are saddled with modified Fruits Basket hugging rules: When hugged by someone outside their nuclear family and who is not a Miraculous wielder themselves, they turn into the animal their Miraculous represents.





	Embrace Me

**Author's Note:**

> Heads up, this is pretty much as angsty as I get. ...Which is still probably on the lighter end of the angst spectrum? I'm not good an angst, is a thing I'm saying here. It's probably more melancholy.
> 
> Also, sincerest thanks to [AlexSeanchai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/pseuds/AlexSeanchai) for cheerleading me for this fic <3 It would still be languishing unfinished without them.

Marinette is making do. She's hugging her parents as often as she feels she can get away with it and just... reveling in it. She's given it up elsewhere, after all.

She's making the most of things. She's finding new ways to express her affection with her friends, new gestures and signals. She's making it work.

As for her crush on Adrien... she's learning to live with it. Learning to be okay loving someone and not wanting them to love her back, so she doesn't get hurt more than she already is, and he doesn't get hurt at all. Alya's talked with her about it, offered to set her up with Adrien and try all sorts of things to get them together, done research and asked important questions even (and Marinette loves her best friend _so much_ for that, even if she can't share the real reason why—though she did get to come out as bi, at least, so there's that). Marinette turns her down, though. There's no point in being with a boy you can't hug, after all. She'll figure out something eventually. Someday. Maybe.

In the mean time, she's resigned herself to being single.

\---

Adrien is doing okay. Some days more than others, but in general, okay.

He's well practiced in the art of dodging hugs from admirers—and if he also has Chloe to back-handedly thank for that, well. That's just how things are.

He hasn't had to worry about intimate poses with girls in his modeling work very much yet, at least not so far; the few times his photographer has invited girls on the set to model with him, Adrien has managed to manipulate their poses to satisfy artistic intent while also avoiding that critical core contact. He's started dropping words here and there about how his father isn't particularly interested in involving girls in Adrien's photo shoots yet, using every excuse he can think of (mostly surrounding the idea that Adrien is still 'available' in the public eye, which makes him feel a little dirty, but needs must).

He's been working the other end as well, to a certain extent: nudging his father and Nathalie away from the idea of photoshoots with girls whenever possible, and with as much subtlety as he can manage.

He's not tremendously happy about it, but he's making do. For now, at least; he's not sure how long his excuses and subtle manipulations will last. Still, he's doing his best.

It's not like he's getting a lot of hugs from the people he most wants them from, anyway.

\---

Tikki had been very up front about it, from the moment Marinette first opened the box with the Ladybug Miraculous in it. "I know it's a lot to ask," Tikki had said. "If you don't want to go through with it, I can arrange a time and place for you to drop the Miraculous off, and it will be safely recovered. We can find someone else to use it."

 _Someone else._ It's that, more than anything, which gets Marinette to put on the earrings. It's that which keeps her from passing them on to Alya when she has the chance, as much as she might have wanted to, and as much as she knows her new friend would _love_ to be a superhero. Because if it's not her, then _someone else_ will be doing this, maybe someone who doesn't even have parents they can hug whenever they want, and Marinette doesn't think she can do that to anyone.

So she keeps the Miraculous, and transforms into Ladybug, and fights supervillains, and very carefully changes her behavior, and now she doesn't hug her friends anymore.

\---

Adrien transforms as soon as the magic phrase is out of Plagg's mouth, and doesn't find out about the little extra detail until well after it's too late. "She's so incredible," he's telling the kwami after his first fight alongside Ladybug. "I think I might be falling in love with her."

"That would work out pretty well, all things considered," Plagg says, gobbling down another piece of the horrible, stinky cheese he apparently loves.

And that's just weird enough to catch Adrien's attention. The kwami explains in short order, and Adrien is ...well, he's definitely not going to give up being Cat Noir, that's for sure, so he'll just have to live without even Chloe's hugs from now on. It seems a small price to pay for the freedom he suddenly has, and there's always the possibility that he could get a hug from his father or Ladybug. (He tries not to think about what it means that he's more hopeful for the latter than the former.)

\---

In the event of an accident, the kwamis are capable of erasing memories; something like making the past five minutes seem really blurry and out-of-focus, allowing their Miraculous holders to escape and regroup. It drains their energy very badly, though, and if Adrien or Marinette has to transform after an incident, they aren't left with much time before the transformation wears off. Luckily, Plagg and Tikki usually have enough energy after to at least summon a Lucky Charm or Cataclysm, but there have been some close calls that none of them is eager to repeat.

Marinette is still sad, will probably always be sad, that Tikki had to erase Alya's memory of their first hug as friends, even moreso because they may never get another one—at least, not as long as Hawkmoth is around and Alya's memories may have to be erased again. Until then, she'll practice hugging one of her pillows, so when she finally _can_ hug Alya for real, it'll be the best hug either of them has ever gotten.

Adrien practically cried the day he realized that "side-hugs" didn't make him turn into a cat. He's pretty sure he side-hugged Nino once a day or more for a solid week right after he figured that out, and is still grateful Nino was so cool about it. He's ...slightly less manic about it these days, but he doesn't go more than a few days without one if he can help it; Nino still seems a bit confused, but thankfully, is also still entirely on board.

\---

Ladybug knows about Cat's crush on her; he hasn't exactly been subtle.

He in turn knows that she's interested in someone else. That she doesn't want to start dating him, Cat, just because he's one of the only people in the world that she can safely hug in public while out of costume. He understands and respects her decision, even if his heart aches for her in so many ways. And Ladybug accepts his flirtations, knowing that Cat would never push the issue farther than she is comfortable.

Maybe someday she'll fall out of love with Adrien and truly in love with Cat Noir. But until then, she will only occasionally indulge them both in a hug.

(Even these she feels guilty about, but something about how tightly Cat Noir holds her every time, how reluctant he is to let go, tells her that he doesn't get a lot of hugs at home—that he may not have even before he became a superhero. After realizing this, she can't bring herself to forswear them completely.)

\---

For a long time, that's how things go.

\---

Then one day Marinette trips in class, goes falling towards the floor, certain she'll hit her head (again) and maybe even break something—

—Only then Adrien's in the way, and that's even _worse_ , because he'll see her turn into an actual ladybug, and even if Tikki erases his memory Marinette is _certain_ that something will linger in his mind, and he'll forever associate her with bugs and beetles, and even if she can never be together with him she still doesn't want him to think of her that way—

—And then his arms have caught her, and hers have fallen around him, and nothing is happening. She isn't poofing into a tiny bug and flying frantically out of the room so Tikki can wipe everyone's memory; she's just standing there, holding and being held by Adrien.

Adrien, who is looking directly into her eyes. Adrien, whose own eyes are so, so green, and so, so familiar.

"Oh," says Marinette, heat rising in her cheeks. " _Oh_. Adrien... It's _you_."

There's more than one meaning to her words, and Adrien must hear them, because he smiles softly and cups her cheek in one hand. "Found you," he says quietly, his eyes shining, and when he leans forward Marinette meets him half-way.

\--fin--

**Author's Note:**

> You can find the majority of my fandom activity (including teasing about future fics) over at [**my Dreamwidth account**](https://soc-puppet.dreamwidth.org) :3b
> 
> Special note to any podficcers: I use "Cat" over "Chat" for my own reasons, but you are absolutely welcome to use whichever one you prefer in recording. Really, anything I can do to make the process more comfortable for you; if you have questions, need clarification on something, whatever, just drop me a comment! I love podfic, including for my own work, and want to make everything as easy and enjoyable as possible for you. For anything else, please check my Permission Statement, located in my profile.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Concrit is welcome, but please be gentle.


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